Two Euskaltel-Euskadi riders in the break proves decisive on hilly Dartmouth finale

Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the seventh, and penultimate, stage of the 2012 Tour of Britain, as it crossed the county of Devon between Barnstaple and Dartmouth. The Basque rider managed to outsprint the four remaining members of a ten-man breakaway group, which escaped early in the tough, hilly, 172.9km stage, as they arrived at the finish with the gold jersey group on their heels.

Stage five winner Marc de Maar (UnitedHealthcare) came within half a length of taking his second victory of the race, but the late hills had dulled the Curacao champion’s sprint and Urtasun was able to come around him at the finish. Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) was third, ahead of Urtasun’s Euskaltel-Euskadi teammate Samuel Sánchez.

The victory was Urtasun's first of the season, which he described as "a very hard and very beautiful win. It was very tough, very hilly, very demanding, and I had to suffer a lot, but it was worth it. Perhaps in other races so I've been better and did not get anything, but the victory has come today, but that’s cycling sometimes.

"Yesterday I was one of the first to be dropped, with an eye on getting into the break on today's stage,” he explained. “Over the years you get to know yourself and you know how to save yourself. After competing in Hamburg I spent four days without touching the bike. I felt fatigued, without pedalling. Then I took up my bike with more energy and, although I'm not super, we have achieved a great result and I'm very happy."

"The whole team has been really good,” Urtasun added. “Ricardo [Garcia] and Adrian [Saez] worked very well in the first few kilometres and Pierre [Cazaux] was also very helpful... As for Samuel; he has done a great race. He told me to relax and wait for the final part. He forced the selection in the break, and control it in the decisive part, then launched me in the last kilometre. He did a great job and we have a team victory, so my satisfaction is even greater.”

Gold jersey Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Endura Racing) finished in a group just 47 seconds behind the four leaders, to hold on to his race lead as the race crossed his home roads.

The ten-rider group escaped in the opening 30km, following the first categorised climb of the day, and managed to build a maximum lead of 4’15” shortly before the halfway point. In the group with Basso, Sánchez, Urtasun and de Maar were Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun), Jan Barta (NetApp), Bernard Sulzberger (Raleigh-GAC), Jacek Morajko (Vacansoleil-DCM), Marcin Bialoblocki (Node4-Giordana) and Ronan McLaughlin (AN Post-Sean Kelly).

Tiernan-Locke’s Endura Racing team began to pull the group back, and closed the gap to just 1’20” with 25km to go. With no overall threat up ahead though, the gap was allowed to grow again to a level that made it virtually impossible to close before the finish.

On the hilly final ten kilometres Tiernan-Locke attacked, and pulled a select group with him, and began to close in on the group ahead. Meanwhile however, de Maar had attacked and cut the group to just four riders and between them they managed to get away to contest the stage finish.

Missing from Tiernan-Locke’s group was second place overall Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge), who slipped out of contention in the late hills of the stage.

A big break goes across Tiernan-Locke’s own roads

The peloton was all together until it reached the first intermediate sprint in Great Torrington after 18.7km, where Tiernan-Locke’s Endura teammate Russell Downing was just unable to stop Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge) from taking first place. Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare) took third place and the net result was that Howard had cut his deficit to Tiernan-Locke from 13 seconds to ten, while van Poppel had cut his from 20 seconds to 19.

Shortly afterwards, on the 2nd category climb of South Hill, the peloton split into three pieces; Tiernan-Locke had made the front group, but Howard had not. After Lelay had led over the top, after 22.6km, the peloton settled down however, and Basso, Sánchez, Urtasun, Coppel and de Maar escaped. Before they had got far ahead, the five riders were joined at the head of the race by Barta, Sulzberger and Morajko, then Bialoblocki and McLaughlin made it across the gap. As it passed through the town of Tavistock after 78.6km, the ten-man group was 4’15” clear.

Endura Racing was in control at the head of the peloton but, with Barta doing no work up front, Team NetApp joined the chase. By the time Urtasun led the group over the top of the 1st category Merrivale after 90.2km, the gap was down to 2’40”.

Through the feedzone the group’s lead continued to fall and, over the top of the 1st category climb of Coffin Stone after 104.9km, it dropped to just 1’40”. On the descent however, it began to go up again and, with 50km it was back up to 2’32” and still rising.

There were no more categorised climbs left on the stage but, as it completed its journey across the Devon peninsular, the rest of the course was to be very far from flat.

With 40km to go Endura Racing and NetApp had cut the gap down to 2’11” but, with a lack of urgency in the chase - and with the ten riders ahead still working well together - it was closing very slowly. Into the final 25km of the stage the ten men were still 1‘20” ahead, but their lead was falling a little quicker by now.

Bialoblocki jumped ahead a little to take the second intermediate sprint, a few hundred metres later - much to the chagrin of Coppel - to protect his Node4-Giordana teammate Peter Williams’ lead - and to move himself into second place outright - in the competition.

After the sprint, the gap began to grow again and, with 17km was up to 2’05”; Team Sky came to the head of affairs but, as the leaders entered the final 15km, their lead was up to 2’10”. Christian Knees (Team Sky) put in an experimental attack from the peloton, but was quickly covered as Orica-GreenEdge pulled the peloton up to him.

Bialoblocki led over the line again, at the third and final intermediate sprint, in Slapton Ley with 12.1km to go, with the lead down to 1’40”. The Polish rider was the first to be dropped however, as the group entered the final, hilly ten kilometres.

Endura Racing accelerated at the foot of the penultimate, uncategorised climb, then Tiernan-Locke himself attacked. Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) was the first to get onto the race leader’s wheel, and was followed by Damiano Caruso (Liquigas-Cannondale); others managed to join as an elite group began to form. The notable absentee was Howard, as the entire Orica-GreenEdge team was unable to go with the race leader’s pace.

De Maar then attacked up ahead, pulling Urtasun and Basso away; Sánchez also managed to bridge up to the three leaders as the rest were well and truly left behind.

With 7.5km to go the Tiernan-Locke group was less than a minute behind the four leaders, as they began to pick up the stragglers from the original break. Coppel managed to claw his way up to the leaders, to make it a group of five but, with another stiff, uncategorised climb to come, the gold jersey group was gaining. Coppel was dropped as soon as the road began to rise again, with 6km to go, to cut the group back down to four again.

Josh Edmondson (Great Britain) jumped away from the Tiernan-Locke group while, up ahead, with five to go, Basso attacked, which got rid of Sánchez. De Maar and Basso continued to attack, but neither was able to get clear; Edmondson was caught by the group behind and Leopold König (NetApp) jumped away.

Sánchez managed to catch up with the leaders again with three kilometres to go, and immediately took the front of the group, with Urtasun sitting comfortably at the back. As they descended under the flamme rouge with a kilometre to go, they were all lined up behind the 2008 Olympic champion.

Into the finishing straight though, de Maar launched his sprint but, having sat in for some time, Urtasun managed to come around the Curacao champion to take the stage.